Shoe and sole insert therefor

ABSTRACT

The disclosure concerns a shoe which is characterized in that internal areas of the shoe that face the foot of a wearer which delimit a shoe interior have an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 5 mm, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of a wearer and convey to the wearer a soft sensation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/061,666, filed on Jun. 16, 2008, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

This disclosure concerns a shoe.

BACKGROUND

A shoe can be a closed shoe with a bottom assembly (shoe sole) and a shaft, wherein the shaft, in particular an upper, can comprise lateral quarters and delimits a shoe interior together with the bottom assembly. There are also shoes with an open design which are known as sandal-like shoes, slippers, or pumps.

SUMMARY

Provided herein is a shoe, having internal regions of the shoe adjacent to the foot arranged in such a manner that a high degree of wearing comfort is imparted. The internal areas of the shoe which face the foot of a wearer which define a shoe interior in closed shoes comprises an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 5 mm, or about 0.3 mm to about 3 mm, wherein the flock fibers face the foot of the wearer and convey to the wearer a soft sensation.

The configuration of the internal areas of the shoe described in this way can comprise the entire internal area of the shoe or only parts thereof, for example, only the internal areas of the shoe that are allocated to the bottom assembly (sole).

The flock fibers or flock contained within an adhesive resin coating discussed above are understood to be short cut fibers which have been aligned by applying an electric field and have been anchored in this alignment on the adhesive resin coating that is applied on a substrate. A very uniform alignment of the short fibers and thus a surface with a uniform textile appearance can be produced by applying the electric field. The ranges of fiber thickness and fiber length disclosed herein can be optimized by one skilled in the art. Product properties attained in this way can be optimized from the point of a visual impression, as well as a soft but not too rigid sensation.

The adhesive resin coating has a thickness of about 0.5 mm to about 3 mm, or about 0.5 mm to about 2 mm.

The flock fibers are embedded at a depth of at least about 0.1 mm, or at least about 0.3 mm in the adhesive resin coating.

The flock fibers may be formed from cotton, viscose, artificial silk, polyamide, polyester, or acrylic.

Any internal shoe areas can be formed by the sole or the shaft materials of the shoe or straps (in sandals) which are to be considered as a component of the shoe.

Further provided is a shoe with a releasable sole insert which at least partially delimits a shoe interior and has an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 5 mm, or of about 0.3 mm to about 3mm, contained therein, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of the wearer and convey a soft sensation to the wearer.

Provided also is a sole insert for a shoe which at least partially delimits a shoe interior and has an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm, to about 5 mm, or about 0.3 mm to about 3 mm, contained therein, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of the wearer and convey a soft sensation to the wearer.

Provided also is an arch support insert for a shoe which at least partially delimits a shoe interior and has an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 5 mm, or of about 0.3 mm to about 3 mm, contained therein, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of the wearer and convey a soft sensation to the wearer.

The sole inserts and arch support inserts provided herein can also be configured wherein the adhesive resin coating has a thickness of about 0.5 mm to about 3 mm, or of about 0.5 mm to about 2 mm.

The sole inserts and arch support inserts provided herein can also be configured wherein the flock fibers are embedded at a depth of at least about 0.1 mm, or at least about 0.3 mm, in the adhesive resin coating.

The shoe and arch supports provided herein can also be configured with the flock fibers formed from cotton, viscose, artificial silk, polyamide, polyester, or acrylic.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

DRAWINGS

Other features, details and advantages of the disclosure are disclosed in the attached patent claims and become apparent from the depicted representation and following description. Shown in the drawings:

FIG. 1 A schematic lateral view of a typical shoe;

FIG. 2 A schematic sectional view of the structure of a shoe interior configured according to the disclosure;

FIG. 3 A schematic perspective representation of a sole insert for a shoe; and

FIG. 4 A schematic perspective representation of an arch support insert for a shoe.

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses.

As used herein, the term “dtex” means decitex, which is the mass, in grams, of fibers per 10,000 meters.

FIG. 1 shows a typical shoe 2 with bottom assembly 4 and shaft 6, whereby the shaft 6 comprises an upper 8, lateral quarters 10, and a stiffener 12. The bottom assembly 4 comprises typically an outer sole 14 and inner sole or insole 16. The aforementioned components delimit a shoe interior 18 of the shoe. The internal areas 20 of the shoe which delimit the shoe interior 18 and are formed by the respective inner side of the aforementioned components or the inner layers of the shoe 2 attached thereto are provided with an adhesive resin coating 22 with flock fibers 24 contained therein (FIG. 2) according to the disclosure. A large number of the flock fibers 24 are thereby parallel to each other and are aligned essentially vertical to the internal area 20 of the shoe in question and are held in the adhesive resin coating 22, in which they were aligned by applying an electrostatic field in field direction during production and embedded in the adhesive resin coating, whereby they could penetrate into the still fluidic adhesive resin coating 22 up to a depth of at least 0.1 mm, in particular at least 0.3 mm. By means of the basic dense and even arrangement of the flock fibers within the adhesive resin coating 22 there results a dense surface of the internal area 20 of the shoe 2 so constructed as to optically be assumed to be a thick textile.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic sectional view of the structure of an internal area 20 of the shoe 2 configured according to the disclosure. This internal area 20 is formed, for example, as substrate for the adhesive resin coating 22 by the inner sole or insole 16. Flock fibers 24 are placed in this adhesive resin coating 22 and then are held aligned basically perpendicular to the top side of the inner sole or insole 16 or to the adhesive resin coating 22 in the known manner as schematically depicted. An internal area of the shaft 6 could, however, also be configured in the manner according to the disclosure instead of the inner sole or insole 16.

FIG. 3 shows a typical sole insert 26 for a shoe whose side that faces the foot of the wearer and thus delimits the shoe interior is configured entirely or partially with only schematically depicted flock fibers 24 which are contained in an adhesive resin coating 22. The adhesive resin coating 22 could be applied thereby either directly on the upper side of the sole insert 26 or it could in turn be contained on a transfer layer and only be applied on the sole insert 26 after being provided with the flock fibers 24, for example, by means of another adhesive layer.

Finally, FIG. 4 shows an arch support insert 28 for a shoe which has a resiliently flexible configuration and can be adapted to the internal areas of the shoe or to the foot. The arch support insert 28 comprises for this purpose typically a support layer 30 of hydrogel material. Applied on this support layer 30 is then again an adhesive resin coating 22 in which are again anchored the flock fibers 24 in the manner described above. A uniform and visually dense textile appearing surface is formed in this way in the arch support insert 28.

It should be noted that the disclosure is not limited to the embodiment described and illustrated as examples. A large variety of modifications have been described and more are part of the knowledge of the person skilled in the art. These and further modifications as well as any replacement by technical equivalents may be added to the description and figures, without leaving the scope of the protection of the disclosure and of the present patent. 

1. A shoe, having internal areas of the shoe that face the foot of a wearer which delimit a shoe interior in closed shoes, comprising an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 5 mm, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of a wearer and convey to the wearer a soft sensation.
 2. The shoe of claim 1, wherein the flock fibers have a length of about 0.3 mm to about 3 mm.
 3. The shoe of claim 1, wherein the flock fibers are embedded at a depth of least about 0.1 mm, in the adhesive resin coating.
 4. The shoe of claim 1, wherein the flock fibers are formed from cotton, viscose, artificial silk, polyamide, polyester, or acrylic.
 5. The shoe of claim 1, having internal areas of the shoe that face the foot of a wearer which delimit a shoe interior in closed shoes, comprising an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 3 mm, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of a wearer and convey to the wearer a soft sensation.
 6. A sole insert for a shoe which at least partially delimits a shoe interior and has an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 5 mm, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of a wearer and convey a soft sensation to the wearer.
 7. The sole insert of claim 6 which at least partially delimits a shoe interior and has an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 3 mm whereby the flock fibers face the foot of a wearer and convey a soft sensation to the wearer.
 8. An arch support insert for a shoe which at least partially delimits a shoe interior and has an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 5 mm, contained therein, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of a wearer and convey a soft sensation to the wearer.
 9. The arch support insert of claim 8, comprising a support layer of hydrogel material on which the adhesive resin coating is applied.
 10. The arch support insert of claim 9 which at least partially delimits a shoe interior and has an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 3 mm contained therein, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of a wearer and convey a soft sensation to the wearer.
 11. A shoe comprising a sole insert which has an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers contained therein having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 5 mm, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of a wearer and convey to the wearer a soft sensation.
 12. The shoe of claim 11 comprising a sole insert which has an adhesive resin coating with flock fibers contained therein having a thickness of about 0.5 dtex to about 5 dtex and a length of about 0.3 mm to about 3 mm, whereby the flock fibers face the foot of a wearer and convey to the wearer a soft sensation. 